By: Felix Ikpotor
As a step towards entrenching good governance and development at the grassroots, the Rivers State Government through the State Bureau on Public Procurement has trained senior officers from the 23 councils of the state on compliance with the state’s public procurement law.
Speaking at the two-day trainning held for Directors, Heads of Personnel Management, Heads of Local Government Administration, Treasurers and other senior officers, Acting Director General of the bureau, Dr. Ine Briggs said the trainning is necessary to bridge the gap of non-compliance in the state and get the officers abreast with the law and penalties which follows defaulters.
She said implementing the law is a tool to entrenching good governance and development at the grassroots level and called on those on the procurement cadre to adhere strictly to the law.
Briggs noted that although the law has empowered them to prosecute defaulters, but that the bureau has decided to carryout the enlightenment to encourage self-compliance.
“There is still the issue of compliance to the law. The Bureau started with the carrots method which has to do with pampering you to comply with the law and perhaps we were on a mission to enlighten them and make them knowledgeable about the law and there is also the stick approach which is the penalties for non-compliance, so we want to bridge this gap completely.
“Although we want a situation whereby people are self-complying.
As that’s why we have given awards today. Over the years we have seen some people that anywhere you put them you see wave of change they bring to the council and there are some people wherever you put them, they run down the public procurement rules and regulations. So we are building the system and we want to take this rules and guidance to a certain level because it’s through this tool that we would bring growth to the people, good governance to the people.
“The government has given us the face. The law has empowered us and the government is behind us and nothing stops us from heating those that are not complying. Nothing stops us when we decide to zero down on non-compliance,” she stated.
She further charged the LGA workers to see themselves as privileged tools to implementing a law that would better the lives of the people at the grassroots.
“This people should see themselves as privileged to be the implementors of the law that would empower people, that would bring good governance and development, so it’s a charge to everybody at all the cadres to see this as a heavenly responsibility,” she said.
In his goodwill message at the trainning, Chairman of the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission Goodlife Idoku Ben appreciated the bureau for empowering workers at the grassroots with the tools to entrench good governance and better leadership.
He said the workshop is an eye-opener and urged participants not to joke with the materials available at the workshop but to use them for their personal development.
He assured that the commission would continue to embark on further trainings to empower the LGA workforce especially with the forthcoming LGA elections, charging the workers to do their best to support enthronement of better leaders at the grassroots.
One of the lecturers at the workshop, Mr. Lenaata Benson in his presentation warned the procurement officers that attempt
to commit fraud is deemed guilty under the claw.
He highlighted other offences under the law to includes contract or tender splitting, altering of procurement document or using fake documents, refusing access to record of any LGA amongst others.
Highpoint of the workshop was presentation of awards to oustanding procurement officers from the various LGAs.
